Rotary engine.



F.- A. CLEVELAND.

ROTARY ENGINE. APrLIoATIoN FILED Amm, 190s.

933,363; Patented Sept. 7, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. A. CLEVELAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED Amm, 1908.

933,363, Pantea'sep1;. 7, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

f E 4g 47 Y the cylinder FREDERICK A.l CLEVELAND, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. '7, 1909.

Application filed April 9, 1908.v Serial No. 425,991.V

To .all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. CLEVE- LAND, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of the city` of New York, in the county of New Yorkand Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Rotary Engines, of` which the foli lowing is a specication.

This invention relates to rotary engines, the object being to provide aconstruction for an engine of this type in which the steam operatesconstantly upon oneor more pistons to produce a continuous rotarymovement.

In the form of illustrate my invention in this application I haveprovided a number of coperating ro tary cylinder cores positioned incylindrical.

rotary cylinder cores arel each provided with a projection or wingsteamoperates to impart to their respective cylin# chambers. These againstwhich the a rotary movement der cores. An intermediate abutting core' isso positiond as to rotatey in contact with each of the cylinder cores. Arecess is provided in the abutting core ofsuch a shape that theprojections or wings on the kcylinder cores may pass therethrough incontact with the wall thereof in order to permit a complete rotation ofthe same and for the purpose of retaining and preventing excessive wearin the packing at The several cores are operatively connected togetherby suitable mechanism and rotate together relatively so that theprojections from the several cylinder cores andthe recess in theintermediate abutting core' will come together at the proper points topermit the projections to pass successively ythrough the recess asstated. At other points in the circle of rotation the outer end of theprojec-V tions or wings are in contact with the inner surface of thecylindrical chambers in which each of the aforesaid cylinder coresarepositioned, thus providing a closed'joint and also providing for acontinuous rotation of cores. An inclosure will be formed at either sideof the projections or wings and valves of peculiar construction,

which will be more fully described herein-y after, are provided foradmitting steam to either of these inclosures to produce a rotation ofthe cylinder cores in eitherdirection as may be desired.v Exhaust valvesof peculiar construction, which will be more fully describedhereinafter, are provided which are opened at the proper points toengine I have adopted to the end ofthe wing.

`upon which is mounted a permit the escape of the steam. By placingseveral sets of these cylinders end to end on common shafts andarranging the valves controlling the inlet and outlet of the steam tothe several sets of cylinders in such a manner that the steam isoperating on opposite' sides of the shaft in diferent sets of thecylinders, I obtain a balancing of the side thrust andproduce. an evenand smooth rotation which results in a great saving in losses due tofriction and also in wear upon the bearings. As the steam is admitted atdiiferent points in the rotation of the several cylinders of each set itwill be evident that one of the cylinders will always be' in a` positionto be operated upon when the steam is admitted and, consequently, deadcenters are avoided and the engines may be started at any point.

Other objects will be in part obvious and will in part appearhereinafter in connection with the description of the engine illustratedin the accompanying drawings as one embodiment of my invention.

`Like .parts inthe several views have been 'given similar referencenumbers.

Figure 1 is an lend view of an engine embodying my invent-ion showingthe valve operatingand reversing mechanism. Fig. 2 is a vertical centralsection of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 anr enlarged sectional view taken on the line3 3 0f Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

' At 1 is indicated a suitable base or support i casing or housing 2. Inthis casingor housing I have provided Vthree cylindrical chambers 3, 4and 5 in which aremounted sets of cylinder cores, such as 6, 7 and 8,respectively. An inter- `mediate abutting core 9 is mounted so as torotate in contact with each of the aforesaid cylinder cores 6, 7 and 8,as shown in Fig. '3. The cylinder core 6 is mounted upon a shaft 10, thecylinder core 7 upon a shaft 11, the cylinder core 8 upon a shaft 12,and the intermediate abutting core 9 upon a shaft 13. These shafts areconnected so as to rotate together with their respective cores by meansofsuitable gears, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 at 61, 62, 63 and 64.Projections or wings,

such as 14, 15 and 16, are provided on the cylinder cores 6, 'Z and 8,respectively. 'Ihe projections may be secured to their respectivecylinder cores by any suitable means.

Inlet valves of the rotary type, as shown at 17, 18, and 19, are mountedso as to be rotated in unison with the cylinder cores by means of gearssuch as 65, .66, 67 and (i8,

shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Surrounding these rotary valves I have providedcylindrical 5 valve sleeves, as shown at 20, 21 and 22 in Figs. 2 and 3,which may be oscllated by iiians of the reversing lever 69 whichoperates the same through segments and gears 70, 71 and 7 2, shown inFigs. 1 and 2.

10 'galhe cylindrical valve sleeve 20 is provided' with openings 23, 24and 25 which are so positioned as yto register with the openings o5113.8, 39 and 40 in the casing or housing 2 as @the valve sleeve 20 isoperated by the lever 69, as described. The cylindrical valve sleeve )21is provided with openings 28, 29 and 30 iivhich are adapted to registerwith the open- Aings 41, 42 and 43 in the casing or housing 2 niind thecylindrical valve sleeve 22 is pronviided with openings 33, 34 and 35which are .i adapted to register with the openings 44, 45

and 46 in the casing or housing 2 in a similar imanner, v

in' A supply pipe 47 supplies steam by means 25cm? the passages 48, 49and 50 to the steam ehests 27, 32 and 37, respectively, from which uitis admitted to the cylindrical chambers 3,

4 and 5 by means of the inlet valves 17, 18 land 19. The admission ofthe steam to the Bof-'cylindrical chambers 3, 4 and 5 is deter- ?minedand controlled by the position of thc cylindrical valve sleeves 20, 21and 22, as

will be more fully explained hereinafter.

i `Exhaust openings 51 and 52 are provided .in the valve sleeve 20;exhaust openings'53 -and 54 are provided in the valve sleeve 21 andexhaust openings 55 `and 56 are provided in the valve sleevev 22. Theseopenings may extend longitudinally the .entire length ot the valvesleeves, as shown in Fig. 2, or the same may be so positioned as tocomnnmicate` with suitable openings in the housing 2.

The operation of this valve mechanism rrr will be readily understood byreference toy Fig. 3. In the position as shown the valve sleeves 20, 21and 22: have been set in position by the operating lever 69, asalthrough the openings 39 and 24 and from thence through the rotatingvalve 17, which is just beginning to open the passage through theopenings 23 and 38, admitting the steam to the cylindrical chamber 3 andcausing the same to operate upon the projection 14. The exhaust fromthat portion of the cylindrical chamber 3 which is ahead of theprojection 14 is provided for by the passage 44 which communicates withthe exhaust opening 55 in the valve sleeve 22. The valves 18 and 19operate in a similar manner upon their respective cylinder cores whichare positioned and arranged so -that the -steam is initially admitted tothe respective cylindrical chambers successively, thus producing Ol l'ready explained andl shown in Figs. 1 and. 2. The steam in the chamber32 passesV a continuous and even pressure which causes the rotarymovement of the driving shaft.

The reversing of the engine is accomplished by moving the operatinglever (39 and thus rotating the valve sleeves 20, 21 and 22 so that theopening 25 registers with the opening 39, the opening 23 with theopening 40 and the exhaust opening 52 with the opening 38. The valvesleeves 21 and 22 are at the same time rotated in a like manner-and itwill now be seen that the steam will be admitted to the adjacentcylinder on the opposite side of the valve and will cause a rotation inthe reverse direction, that is, the steam from the steam chest 32 willnow be admitted through the openings 39, 2,5, 23 and 40 to thecylindrical chamber 4 and will operate upon the projection 15, causing arotation of the cylinder 7 in the reverse direction from that indicatedby the arrow. Atthe same time it will be noted that the exhaust opening52 in the valve sleeve 20 has been brought into position to provide forthe exhaust ofthe steam ahead of the projection 14 in the cylindricalchamber 3. A similar` operation of the valves takes place at the sametime for the remaining cylinders and it is thus seen that the engine maybe operated equally well in either direction and may be reversed by asimple movement of' the operating lever 69.

It will be noted that the openings in the rotating valves 17, 18 and 19may be regulated so as to sluit oiln the inlet from the steam chests atany desired point and allow the steam in the cylindrical chambers tooperate expansively through the remainder ot the cycle.

As already stated and shown in Fig. 2 several sets of cylinders may beprovided to operate the same driving shaft and these sets of cylindersmay be arranged to operate concurrently or the projections on thecylinder cores and the valve mechanism of each set may be arranged tooperate successively with the corresponding cores of the adjacent sets.

It will be understod that the point at which the steam is admitted tothe cylindrical chamber may be varied to meet different requirements andconstructions. The most eiiicient results will be obtained 'when thisopening is so positioned that the steam will be admitted as soon as theprojection or wing has passed out of the recess in the intermediateabutting core. In the drawings this opening has been shown a smalldistance away from such a point merely for convenience of illustratingthe mode of operation of the engine. It will also be understood that myinvention may be applied with equally good results to engines designedfor use with compressed air and various other sources of power.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of my invention designed withoutdepart-ing from the scope thereof, I intend that all matter contained inthe above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative merely of an operative embodiment of myinvention and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is:

l. In a rotary engine, in combination, a plurality of cylinder coreseach positioned in a cylindrical chamber, a plurality of valves adaptedto control the admission of steam to said chambers, a plurality of valvesleeves adapted to be operated in conjunction with said valves to causethe steam from said valves to be delivered to either of two adjacentchambers to produce a rotation of said cylinder cores in eitherdirection, and means for operating said valves and valve sleeves. j

2. In`a rotary engine, in combination, a plurality of cylinder' coreseach positioned in a cylindrical chamber, a plurality of valves adaptedto control the admission of steam to said chambers, a plurality of valvesleeves adapted to be operated in conjunction with said valves to causethe steam therefrom to be delivered to either of two adjacent chambersto produce a rotation of said cylinder cores in either direction, saidsleeves also controlling the exhaust from the other of said chambers,and means for operating said valves and valve sleeves.

3. In a rotary engine, in combination, a casing provided with aplurality of cylindrical chambers, a .plurality of cylinder cores eachpositionedv in one of said chambers, a plurality of valves locatedinterme diary of said chambers andV adapt-ed to control the admission ofsteam thereto, a plurality of valve sleeves surrounding said valves andadapted simultaneously to cause the steam from said valve to bedelivered to said chambers and to control the exhaust valve and valvesleeves.

4. In a rotary engine, in combination, a casing provided with aplurality of cylindrical chambers, a plurality of cylinder cores eachpositioned in one of said chambers, an abutting core operating inconjunction with said cylinder cores, a plurality of valves each locatedintermediary of said chambers and adapted to control the admission ofsteam thereto, a plurality of valve sleeves each operating inconjunction with one of said valves and adapted to control the admissionof steam to either one of the adjacent chambers and to control theexhaust of the steam from the other of said adjacent chambers, and meansfor operating said valves and valve sleeves.

5. In a rotary engine, in combination, a casing` provided with aplurality of cylindrical chambers, a plurality of cylinder cores eachpositioned in one of said chambers, an abutting core operating inconjunction with said cylinder cores, a plurality of rotary valves eachlocated intermediary of said chambers and adapted to control theadmission of steam thereto, a plurality of rotary valve sleeves eachoperating in conjunction with one of said valves and adapted to controlthe admission of steam to either one of the adjacent chambers and tocontrol the exhaust of the steam from the other of said adjacentchambers, and means for rotating said valves and valve sleeves.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New Yorkthis 30th day of Mch. A. D. 1908.

FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM M. GATTER, LEWIS J. DooLI'rTLE.

